And there we have it. Points of no return for all of the main characters. All of the build up, mysteries, and intrigues, came to a head in flashes of swords, spilled poisoned wine, and declarations of war surrounded by flames.

Without ceremony, Game of Thrones just comes out and has Ned bluntly state his discoveries to Cercei's face: Joffrey and all of her children are indeed Jaime's, not Robert's. Incest between twins begat three abominations. I liked how the scene started with Cercei's golden head blotting out the son with her sounding concerned for Ned: "You're hurt." Cercei has shown brief flashes of compassion (feigned?), but always snaps right back to ruthless form.

We finally met Tywin Lannister and he's different from how you expect him to be. The father of Cercei, Jaime, and Tyrion is shown getting his hands dirty butchering a stag (nice metaphor). But he's more practical and even disappointed in his son Jaime for not acting intelligently (Tyrion, the "lowest of the Lannisters" has the brains) and for wasting all his talents as the "glorified bodyguard for two kings, one a madman, the other a drunk."

Spoiler Below: Highlight text to read

Thankfully omitted from the show was Cercei's more graphic explanation for how it feels when her twin brother is fucking her, and the outlandish moment when Cercei comes onto Ned and offers a (sexual) alliance between their houses! Cercei is less willing to prostitute herself on the show. The scene with Tywin and Jaime doesn't exist in the book. Also new on the show is scene between Littlefinger and the whores where Littlefinger essentially narrates his origin story and foretells how he's going to fuck over Ned Stark, which he does. I'm also pretty sure but not positive the scene with Theon and the wildling woman at Winterfell was new. Joffrey being in the room when Robert was dying was also not in the book. Renly openly declaring that he should be king also wasn't in the book.

I love how in Game of Thrones, people make plans, thinking what they're doing is - well, maybe not right but for the best (in their best interests, usually) - but things go horribly wrong and everything turns to shit.

Robert sending assassins after Daenerys eventually forces Khal Drogo to reverse his earlier disinterest in invading Westeros. Instead he makes a bad ass declaration of war against Westeros, and Daenerys looks proud, in love, and pretty turned on. Funny how, considering the way it started, Drogo and Daenerys are probably the most loving man-woman relationship in the series.

So maybe Robert should have listened to Ned about Daenerys, but Ned isn't always right. A lot of people came to Ned urging him to take action against Cercei but Ned is stubborn. Ned also didn't tell Robert about Cercei and Jaime. I like Ned a lot, he's a good, honorable man. Game of Thrones doesn't reward good honor. Ned got good and fucked over. Cercei tearing up Robert's will was cold.

Fucking Lannisters!

I also really like the debate about line of succession. Who should be king? Stannis Baratheon? No one likes him. But he's rightful heir after Robert - if Joffrey is exposed as a bastard. Then again, as Renly points out, why should that matter? Robert had no right to the throne, he seized it in combat. Who's best for the Iron Throne? There's no right answer. Who's not best for the Iron Throne? Joffrey. We can already see that. Ned Stark looks good and fucked, all right.

I wasn't a fan of the scene with Littlefinger and the whores, since it pretty much foreshadowed that he was going to fuck over Ned. When I first read the book I was pretty much like Ned. I knew that Littlefinger wasn't really to be trusted, yet somehow you began trusting he was on the right side. Which made it more of a shock when he turned.

Edit: This had nothing to do with the whores and what THEY were doing. I had no issue with that. :)

Originally posted by John Orquiola"When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die."

The big line of dialogue from Cercei that sums up the series.

Right after she said that, I started laughing for a few minutes because it reminded me of the excellent 'Titular Line Guy' skit from UPRIGHT CITIZENS BRIGADE where the video store guy claimed to have been in STAR WARS and OUT OF AFRICA. That shit was hilarious.

Originally posted by MUTigermaskI wasn't a fan of the scene with Littlefinger and the whores, since it pretty much foreshadowed that he was going to fuck over Ned. When I first read the book I was pretty much like Ned. I knew that Littlefinger wasn't really to be trusted, yet somehow you began trusting he was on the right side. Which made it more of a shock when he turned.

Edit: This had nothing to do with the whores and what THEY were doing. I had no issue with that.

Originally posted by John OrquiolaRobert sending assassins after Daenerys eventually forces Khal Drogo to reverse his earlier disinterest in invading Westeros. Instead he makes a bad ass declaration of war against Westeros, and Daenerys looks proud, in love, and pretty turned on. Funny how, considering the way it started, Drogo and Daenerys are probably the most loving man-woman relationship in the series.

(edited by John Orquiola on 30.5.11 0742)

Yout know, generally speaking hearing your husband yell out "I will rape their women!" doesn't inspire "proud, in love, and pretty turned on." On the other hand, this is a woman who comes from a a family that has practiced sibling incest for three hundred years (wait a minute - were her and Vyseris doing the do in the book?), so maybe her sexual mores are a bit different.

Originally posted by MoeGatesYout know, generally speaking hearing your husband yell out "I will rape their women!" doesn't inspire "proud, in love, and pretty turned on." On the other hand, this is a woman who comes from a a family that has practiced sibling incest for three hundred years (wait a minute - were her and Vyseris doing the do in the book?), so maybe her sexual mores are a bit different.

Fuck, I forgot that! I LOL'd when Drogo yelled he was going to rape the women of Westeros.

However, I believe part of the conditions of Daenerys' marriage to Drogo was that she was a virgin. So she and Viserys never did the do. He just fondled her a lot (and called her a slut and a whore after she married Drogo.)

However, it's pretty clear in the last couple of episodes Daenerys and Drogo really dig each other. That stallion mounts her world and her world likes it.

Who'd thought big old musclehead Drogo had such chops? He goes from tender concern for the welfare of Daenerys, to a speach somewhere between Braveheart and Kahn. It does seem like she flinches a bit when he talks of raping the women and enslaving the children though.

So how deep is Littlefinger in this? Did he just seize the moment, or does it go further back? He was the one that won Tyrion's dagger that was found on the assassin.

I *highly* recommend reading Pearson Moore's essays on GoT (winterfellkeep.com). He doesn't do straightforward episode recaps; he writes cultural and mythological analyses that focus heavily on symbolism (he does more analysis of the scene with the rescuing of the direwolf pups than you think is possible). He calls it the "metastory." He also does extensive character pieces. He did a series of similar analyses for Lost. Hardcore stuff.

He has read all the books, but he does not spoil anything. He does provide detailed historical context that is not evident in the show. If you're averse to knowing the titles of the remaining season 1 episodes, you can go directly to a specific episode's essay